Ambler Daycare and Early Education provides care for children aged 6 months to reception age, from 8am to 6pm 49 weeks per year.

Meeting the individual needs of each child lies at the heart of all that we do at Ambler. We offer high quality education tailored to each child’s needs. Children are divided by age into ‘rooms’ to enable us to provide the appropriate stimuli and activity for each age group. We ensure that our facilities are accessible to all.

In all of this we aim to give all children the very best start in life and are committed to countering underachievement and overcoming barriers where they exist.

Learning

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum throughout our daycare provision. This involves offering the range of experiences children need to support their development with an emphasis of learning through play.

Each child has a key person so the development, learning and care we provide is tailored to their individual needs. Alongside this we have a ‘focus child’ approach which builds individual children’s requirements into our weekly planning. Parent’s involvement in the planning process is actively encouraged. Through this we are confident that all the children in our centre are fully supported in their development.

Rooms

Daycare and Education is divided into three age groups, babies (six months up to two years), toddlers (two years until the term after they turn three) and nursery (up until the children enter reception class). Each age group has their own ‘room’, the Baby Room, Toddler Room and Nursery Rooms. Attached to each of these are separate outside areas so the children can move freely, with their peers, between indoors and outdoors. Staff are permanently assigned to specific rooms so the children become familiar with all the staff in their room, not just their key worker. Please refer to the ‘Meet the Team’ section of the website for a list of staff and their roles.

In the Baby Room we have up to 12 babies (at any one time) with a staffing ratio of 1 member of staff to 3 children. Our focus is establishing the good attachment relationships so crucial to the wellbeing and development of babies. We also ensure that the room is a safe, secure and calm environment. Within this we provide babies with a range of stimuli for all the senses to encourage them to explore their world.

The Toddler Room has up to 24 children (at any one time) with a staffing ratio of 1 member of staff to 4 children. In this room we foster the increasing independence and sociability of toddlers. We continue to support and extend their development with a ‘can do’ approach, building and extending their areas of confidence.

Due to popular demand we now have two Nursery Rooms taking up to 26 children each (at any one time), which are headed up by a teacher and early years practitioners. In the nursery rooms the children are involved in interactions and activities to inspire and stretch their learning. Our aim is to establish firm foundations for the school years ahead.

Facilities

Our facilities were fully re-developed in 2006 with the children and their needs in mind. The whole site is on one level and fully accessible to those with mobility issues. Our inside space is designed to be welcoming, peaceful and inspiring. Every room has its own outside space so there can be free flow between the inside and outside. There is a woodland area where the children can learn about trees, flowers and creepie-crawlies! The children in the nursery rooms can also explore the school playground at timetables intervals, with children from the reception classes, when the older school children are in lessons.

Opening Hours

We are open throughout the year, closing only for two weeks in the summer, up to two weeks over the Christmas period, bank holidays and five inset days per year. We are open 5 days a week from 8.00am – 6.00pm.

Children can attend for 2, 3 or 5 days a week in accordance with the council’s admissions policy. We also have some morning / afternoon places for children over 2. The extended day provision is also open to children in the reception classes at Ambler Primary School, complementing the extended day provision for older children provided by the school itself.

For further information on the time slots available please speak to a member of staff at one of our open days. Please state your preferred time slots and days when applying to Ambler.